BENGALURU: As elections to 11 seats of the Legislative Council from the Legislative Assembly have been declared, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yathindra from Congress and senior leader CT Ravi from BJP have emerged as frontrunners.
With its 136 MLAs, Congress can win seven seats, BJP three with 66 MLAs and JDS one seat as it has 19 MLAs.
Yathindra sacrificed his Varuna Assembly seat, which he held between 2018 and 2023, to his father Siddaramaiah in the 2023 Assembly polls, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal had promised him an MLC seat, sources said.
Minor Irrigation Minister NS Boseraju’s renomination is most likely as is CM’s political secretary K Govindaraju’s. KP Nanjundi and Sanganna Karadi, who had quit BJP to join Congress just before the Lok Sabha polls, are also pitching for the seats as the Congress leadership had made them a promise, a source said.
Among those lobbying hard for the remaining seats are leaders VS Sudarshan, KPCC chief spokesperson AN Nataraj Gowda, Ivan D’Souza, former Bengaluru mayor Gangabhika Mallikarjun, Ishwarya Mahadev, Kavitha Reddy and Kamalakshi Rajanna from women’s quota, MC Venugopal, BL Shankar, VS Ugrappa, DT Venkatesh, All-India Youth Congress president BV Srinivas, Dr CS Dwarakanath, BM Sandeep, Srivatsa and SA Hussain from minority quota. Some leaders, including HM Revanna -- who has been appointed chairman of the committee to implement the five guarantees, Arati Krishna and Raghunandan Ramanna, who have been appointed to boards and corporations, are out of the race, observed a leader.
From BJP, Ravi’s nomination is almost certain as the party wants to make use of his expertise in the Upper House, a source said. N Ravikumar and Muniraju Gowda PM, a staunch supporter of BJP National General Secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, also expect renomination.
But former chief minister BS Yediyurappa has promised former minister JC Madhu Swamy an MLC post with the aim to make him the leader of opposition in the House.
But some within the party have opposed his selection as they feel he is not a staunch party loyalist, a source said. “We’ve enough good orators in the party, but we need those who contribute to the party organisation in the future,” a BJP leader opined.
Names of BJP disciplinary committee chairman Lingaraj Patil and former MLC Ashwath Narayanagowda too are floating within BJP.
JDS is likely to nominate Kupendra Reddy. But incumbent MLC BM Farooq is expecting renomination, while Yeshwanthpur Assembly constituency defeated candidate Javarayi Gowda is also keen.
Issue of notification: May 27
Last date for nomination: June 3
Date of poll and counting: June 13